Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat How To Organize Pallet Colony

Is there any protocol to setting up artificial habitat for fish? I'm constructing numerous pallet "A" frames and have various other pieces of man made habitat. I thought I read somewhere that the pallets should be "X" number of feet apart. Should the various pieces of habitat be spaced out or places fairly tight together? My goal is to provide hiding areas for bluegill and similar forage fish.Thanks.

Try this.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.ph...ite_id=1#import

That is located in the famous section of pond structure by ewest.

This is the archive link with lots of pics and info. It is referenced in the link fish n chips gave with Bob's comments.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.ph...0&site_id=1

I have made all types of pallet structures form A frames to fences to T shaped ones. I often combine them with some type of tree structure like xmas trees or clumps of hardwood limbs. I just depends on what you want each one to achieve.

If possible get hard wood pallets instead of soft wood (pine) pallets, they will last a lot longer

Good info in the links. EW, I have already taken advantage of that informative thread you linked. We've duplicated several of the different types of artificial habitat from that thread. Thanks.

Bill, I see you're in Flatrock, GA. Is that the Flatrock along Hwy 441 inbetween Eatonton and M'ville?

If you have specific questions or want more thoughts ask away. I have used pallets so many ways I hope I can remember them. Here are a few :

Make standing fences (4-5 pallets long and one pallet high) and sink them.

Make pallet Ts - one pallet flat and one attached standing and sink them (with and without xmas and or hardwood limbs attached).

Attached to long posts to be driven into the pond bottom. Both horizontal and vertical.

Flat staked in shallow water for FH reproduction.

Attached to cross pieces on/under docks to add complexity to dock structures.

Incorporated into Ray Scott bucket structures.

As a base for or in combo with porcupine/Fishiding type structures.

Flat - staked up off the bottom ( several feet +) to add shade for LMB and fishing.

There are as many as you can dream up.

Yep, thanks for those suggestions. I will be duplicating some/most of these suggestions. Since our lake is first/formost an irrigation resevoir, it is about 15' low right now! YIKES! But our fishing club is using this opportunity to build artificial habitat right on-site. Alot easier that way. Our main goal is to provide habitat for the bluegill/forage fish and spawning areas. Since our lake has little to no habitat for the bait fish to hide, the populations can get almost wiped out, especially when the water level is extremely low like right now. Fluctuating water levels is another demon we battle! PB is a great resource for us though.

Same Flatrock, that is where my family farm was, sold out a few years ago

here is one of two sites we have been working on. Sorry for the low light. A few of us race out to the site after getting off our day jobs to work on the colonies. With it getting dark around 6:00 PM, that doesn't leave much time or light for pics. We are trying to link the water in the grass (when full) to the pallets in the bay. Note how fast the water is rising: We set out the pallets on Wed.near the water's edge. Thurs they are in a foot of water already.